Ma Chile

In Chile they drop the ‘s’ at the end of words, or pretty much anywhere in a word, so instead of “mas” for more, they just say ma. Well, here is MORE CHILE. As luck (or circumstances, as I tell my family) would have it, I’ve spent more time in that incredible country in 2014 than at home. I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to catch up on the blog here.

In any case, I just returned from my third trip down there, mainly to Patagonia. The first was a family trip (scoring some points there), the second was the former posting’s ill-fated ski trip (details tba but it didn’t go too well!), and the third I’ve just returned from- a birdwatching and photo tour. In the latter, our group traveled from the bottom in Tierra del Fuego to the top in Arica- a distance of over 3000km. Needless to say, the variety of landscapes and habitats are mind-blowing down there. The people are so friendly too.
Here are a few pics!

Chasing down a puma (photo by Rodrigo Reyes)

The straights of Magellan

Torres del Paine National Park

My favourite bird: the Chucao Tapaculo!

Northern Royal Albatross

A woman in Socoroma, a town near the altiplano spreads guano on her maize crop

The backdrop of Arica: the Atatacama desert as viewed from the bus

Parque Nacional Lauca, a place I had passed through nearly 15 years ago with a backpack and altitude sickness